The law of Croatia is part of the

legal system The contemporary national legal systems are generally based on one of four basic systems: civil law, common law, statutory law, religious law or combinations of these. However, the legal system of each country is shaped by its unique history an ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capi ...

. It belongs to the civil law legal system. It is grounded on the principles laid out in the

Constitution of Croatia The Constitution of the Republic of Croatia ( hr, Ustav Republike Hrvatske) is promulgated by the Croatian Parliament. History While it was part of the socialist Yugoslavia, the Socialist Republic of Croatia had its own Constitution under ...

and safeguarded by the

Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia ( hr, Ustavni sud Republike Hrvatske) is an institution that acts as the interpreter and guardian of the Croatian Constitution and which monitors the conformity of laws with the Constitution a ...

. Croatian Law system is largely influenced by German and Austrian law systems. It is significantly influenced by the Civil Code of the Austrian Empire (1811), known in Croatia as ''Opći građanski zakon'' (OGZ) ''(General Civil Law)''. It was in force from 1853 to 1946, with some provisions still applying in the modern day. The

Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist It ...

, a

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

-controlled

puppet state A puppet state, puppet régime, puppet government or dummy government, is a state that is ''de jure'' independent but ''de facto'' completely dependent upon an outside power and subject to its orders.Compare: Puppet states have nominal sove ...

was established in 1941 during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, used the OGZ as a basis for the 1943 ''Base of the Civil Code for the Independent State of Croatia'' ''(Osnova građanskoga zakona za Nezavisnu Državu Hrvatsku)''. After the War, Croatia become a member of the

Yugoslav Federation The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

which enacted in 1946 the ''Law on immediate voiding of regulations passed before April 6, 1941 and during the enemy occupation'' ''(Zakon o nevaženju pravnih propisa donesenih prije 6. travnja 1941. i za vrijeme neprijateljske okupacije)''. By this law OGZ was declared invalid as a whole, but implementation of some of its legal rules was approved. During the post-war era, the Croatian legal system become influenced by elements of the socialist law. Croatian civil law was pushed aside, and it took norms of public law and legal regulation of the

social ownership Social ownership is the appropriation of the surplus product, produced by the means of production, or the wealth that comes from it, to society as a whole. It is the defining characteristic of a socialist economic system. It can take the form o ...

. After Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia on June 25, 1991, the previous legal system was used as a base for writing new laws. ''The Law on Obligations'' ''(Zakon o obveznim odnosima)'' was enacted in 2005.Croatian legal history in the European context, Dalibor Čepulo, p. 357 Today, Croatia as a

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

member state implements elements of the EU acquis into its legal system.

References

{{Europe-law-stub

See also

References